Corporate name changes decrease

There has been a substantial decrease in corporate name changes in the first half of 2002, according to Enterprise IG’s latest research.

The 30 per cent decline is the ‘most dramatic’ in the past 20 years, says Enterprise IG chief executive officer Dave Allen, who suggests the falls can be attributed to adverse economic conditions.

‘These significantly lower numbers can be traced to business concern over the status of the economy at home and abroad and continuing uncertainty on both local and international fronts,’ says Allen.

The report also highlights a drop in ‘frivolous’ name changes and a trend towards well-known companies streamlining their names or selecting new ones more in line with current and future operations.

‘Consignia, with its move back to Royal Mail, is a good example of this,’ says Enterprise IG director Simon Williams.

Of the 1397 name changes recorded, 514 were by US-based companies and 72 in the UK. Financial institutions accounted for the largest number of new names, 46 per cent of all changes, a decline of 28 per cent on previous years. Name changes due to corporate restructuring, including mergers and acquisitions, were also down 10 per cent on last year.

Meanwhile, Interbrand research, also released this week, shows the world’s most valuable brands to be those that remain focused on customer experience and product design.

Interbrand global managing director of brand valuation Jan Lindemann points to the performances of Samsung and Dell, which both achieved increases in brand value at a time when competitors in the telecoms and IT sectors saw brand value decrease.

‘Samsung has excelled at delivering superior product design, while Dell has always been about superior customer service and its business model is specifically designed to deliver it,’ Lindemann says.

Coca-Cola retained its number one position and the research highlights Nivea and Caterpillar as other recent success stories.